The former home secretary Charles Clarke yesterday rounded on Britain's most senior judges, criticising them for repeatedly refusing to meet him to discuss how to view human rights legislation in the light of new pressures created by terrorism and the July 7 bombings.

The government is reviewing the Human Rights Act, and considering whether more intensive training for judges could be introduced. Mr Clarke yesterday weighed into the debate by echoing cabinet ministers' claims that the legal establishment is out of touch.

It has always been a cardinal principle for the judiciary that they should act independently of politicians. But in an article for the London Evening Standard, Mr Clarke argued: "One of the consequences of the Human Rights Act is that our most senior judiciary are taking decisions of deep concern to the security of our society without any responsibility for that security.

"One of my depressing experiences as home secretary was the outright refusal of any of the law lords to discuss the principles behind these matters in any forum, private or public, formal or informal.

"That attitude has to change. It fuels the dangerously confused and ill-informed debate which challenges Britain's adherence to the European convention on human rights. It is now time for the senior judiciary to engage in a serious and considered debate about how best legally to confront terrorism in the modern circumstances that have changed so profoundly since 9/11 and 7/7." Last week David Cameron argued that Britain should replace the act with a bill of rights, but remain a signatory of the European convention from which the act derives.

Mr Clarke's remarks came as Sadiq Khan, a Labour backbencher, urged the government to put its fight against poverty at the top of the political agenda, in a speech to mark the approaching anniversary of the 7/7 bombings,

"As young Asian Muslims feel like lesser citizens and become increasingly alienated from mainstream life in Britain, their sense of injustice is mirrored in some white communities, which has led to polarisation and extremism - and the relative attraction of groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir and the BNP," he warned.

He also criticised the government for implementing only three of the 60 recommendations made by the Muslim taskforce it set up after the atrocity. Mr Khan argued that Britain had "passed the test" by remaining united in the immediate aftermath of July 7, but that divisions had emerged subsequently. He argued for a new contract between citizen and state, expressed through a Muslim commitment to integration and a redefinition of Britishness.

He warned: "When [Britons] are asked to define Britishness, two words - fairness and tolerance - keep cropping up ... You 'tolerate' a toothache. I should be accepted, like all British citizens, regardless of colour." Speaking at a Fabian Society event in London, the MP for Tooting urged Muslims to embrace British life, "rather than build Little Pakistans or Little Bangladeshes".

He added it was vital that British citizens learn English, because shunning it did not "keep us pure ... [but] poor".